


Moments

by acefluff



Series: I Know series [2]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Asexual Character, Asexual Relationship, Asexual Woozi, Domestic Fluff, Drabbles, F/M, Fluff, Non-Linear Narrative, disgustingly fluffly sometimes, kitten being cute and jihoon being cuter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-11-07 07:46:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11054484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acefluff/pseuds/acefluff
Summary: Sequel (kinda) to "I Know"Just some things that happen that weren't in the other story.





	1. Kitten

**Author's Note:**

> I can never say no to my friends (the fact that the story before this exists is proof) and so this is happening now.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New kitten gets a name

The kitten began exploring as soon as we let him out of his carrier. He clawed his way up the couch and squeezed himself behind the cushions. He climbed up onto the bottom shelf of the bookshelf and came toppling down with the books when he tried to bite the corner of a cover. He was confused at suddenly lying on the floor when he’d just been trying to attack a book, but recovered quickly and ran off to the other side of the room to play with a fly trapped behind the curtain.

He got bored when the fly flew out of his reach and he got tangled up in the curtain when he tried to stumble back to me on the other side of the room. The kitten meowed softly and tried to chew my finger when I went to stroke his head.

A second later he was running off again, chasing his tail and trying to climb back onto the couch.

I lost track of how long I sat on the floor and just watched the kitten run around and make himself at home. Eventually he’d exhausted himself and fell asleep on the floor next to me in a patch of sunlight, purring softly, ears twitching.

Jihoon sat down next to me and placed two cups of tea on the floor.

“The kitten needs a name.” Jihoon reached out and gently stroked the kitten, who wiggled a bit to get closer to the warmth of his hand.

“Yeah, he does.”

“I know you have one picked out.”

Of course he knew I’d have chosen a name, I’d been wanting a cat since before I met him. I hadn’t mentioned names because this wasn’t _my_ cat, it was _our_ cat. And because it was _our_ cat I didn’t want to take over with the important decision of choosing a name just because I’d already thought about it.

“Yes, but this is something we should decide on together.”

Jihoon just smiled, his dimples showing and his eyes crinkling. “So tell me the name you’ve thought of and we can do that.”

The kitten yawned and stretched his legs out before resting his head on Jihoon’s hand and curling up again.

“Charlie.”

“Charlie… Like, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Charlie?”

I nodded. It didn’t really make sense, and it was an unusual name for a cat, but I’d always wanted to name my pets after my favourite literary characters. But now I felt ridiculous and I was sure he was going to tell me that.

Jihoon took my hand (with the one the kitten wasn’t using as a pillow) and intertwined our fingers. “Charlie it is then.”

We smiled at each other and I kissed his cheek (shyly, even after years of being together). “You can name the next cat.”

“We’re getting _another_ _cat_?”


	2. Origami

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The living room is overrun with paper animals and feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not always going to update this so regularly, but I have exams soon and I'm procrastinating.

It was after midnight. 

I was sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table, Charlie was sleeping on the couch behind me, and the floor was littered with sheets of coloured paper and little origami cranes and dragons. I had my laptop next to me so I could follow the instructions I’d searched for, but after an evening of practice I didn’t really need the instructions anymore, so the laptop was really just there for music. 

I was so focused that I didn’t hear the key turn in the lock, or the door creak open, or the door click shut, or the footsteps approaching me. 

“You said you were going to do some work tonight.”

Jihoon’s voice startled me, resulting in a ripped piece of paper. 

I looked up at where he was standing in the doorway. “That was the plan, but it’s Friday and working got boring.”

He looked like he was trying to hold back laughter as he threw his jacket over a chair and went to pick Charlie up. 

“You told your friends you had work to do so you could stay home and learn origami instead of going out with them?” 

“To be fair, really didn’t want to go out. And I got about halfway through before I started the origami.”

He raised an eyebrow like he didn’t believe me. Charlie yawned and stretched in Jihoon’s arms, resting a paw on his chin when he was done. 

“Is that true, Charlie? Should I believe her?”

Charlie just yawned again, Jihoon crinkled his nose up in disgust at the fishy cat-breath, and I picked up one of my failed paper dragons, scrunched it into a ball and threw it at Jihoon. 

“Of course you should believe me!”

The balled-up dragon skimmed over his head, rustling his hair a little bit, and bounced (barely) twice on the floor. Jihoon started laughing and Charlie squirmed around until he was put down and immediately ran for the ball of paper, swatting it with his paw and then running after it. 

Jihoon left Charlie playing with the paper and walked over to me. He kissed the top of my head before sitting down next to me on the floor. I stopped with the crane I was folding and leaned back against the couch with him. He picked up one of the dragons to have a closer look, turning it gently and brushing his fingers over the wings. 

He rested his head on my shoulder, eyes still on the dragon, and asked, “So, why the sudden need to fold paper into animals?”

“I don’t know. I just felt really restless.”

He lifted his head off my shoulder to look at me. He looked concerned, and I didn’t want to make him worry more so I went back to folding to avoid his gaze. 

“Why were you restless?”

I shrugged. I didn’t want to tell him that it was because I missed him, that I got lonely when he worked late (even if I did have Charlie), that I felt like I was being selfish for wanting him around more often when he had a demanding job. I didn’t want him to worry about me because I was fine, I really was, I just needed to distract myself. 

“Tell me. Please.” 

It wasn’t a question but I knew that he wouldn’t push me to answer if I wasn’t ready. And I knew I would answer anyway. 

I leaned over to add the completed crane to the growing pile on the coffee table and sighed. “I missed you.” 

I started folding another crane and then the words just wouldn’t stop. 

“I miss you when you work late so much but I also understand that it’s part of the job, and I encouraged you to take it in the first place so I feel like I have no right to complain now. And I know that you love what you do so I feel like complaining about your working hours makes me selfish. But I’ll be fine, I will. If I distract myself time seems to pass faster and then you’re home sooner, so…”

I felt him wrap his arms around me from behind. He was warm. 

I mumbled, “I’m sorry.” 

And he said, “Don’t apologise. Whenever I work late all I can think about is how much longer I have to stay in the studio until I can leave to come home. I promise, as soon as this album is finished, I’ll take some time off.” 

“I thought you had another project starting immediately?”

Jihoon shrugged. “It can wait or they can start without me. And if they can’t do either of those things they’ll just have to find someone else for this one.” 

I pulled away from his embrace and turned to face him. “You can’t just turn down a project like that!” 

I felt even more selfish now; even though he’d made this decision himself it still felt like I was making him choose between me and his job. 

He started blushing, his cheeks a rosy pink, and said, “You’re much more important to me.” 

He did that thing where he looks down to try and hide his smile and his reddening cheeks, so I just leaned forward and carefully wrapped my arms around him. He was still warm. 

I whispered, “Love you.”

He whispered, “Love you, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still cringe writing these but oh well.
> 
> (I actually did stay up until 2am doing origami two days ago because I didn't feel like sleeping.)


	3. Marriage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Traditions are stupid, and who cares anyway?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to university days for this chapter.

He wasn’t the kind of person who made a big deal about things, and my friends often asked if I wished he made more of an effort with gifts on anniversaries and birthdays. But because I was the same, preferring to keep things quiet and simple, I was more than happy with his shy actions and sentimental gifts. I was more excited when he bought me a cute pair of socks than one of my friends was when her boyfriend bought her a bottle of expensive perfume, so I understood why they didn’t understand that I didn’t feel like he needed to ‘make more of an effort.’

My dislike and disinterest in big celebrations for birthdays and anniversaries extended to marriage. I had no desire to have a big white wedding. 

Every female housemate I’d had, at some point, had sat in the lounge searching Instagram for the perfect wedding dress and engagement ring and five tiered cake. When they asked me what my preferences were I just said I hadn’t thought about it (which was true). In my experience, girls didn’t understand that other girls might not have a wedding planned in their minds. 

I had no problem with marriage, I just didn’t want a wedding. I’d happily wear a ring and sign the papers, as long as I didn’t have to walk down the aisle with people staring at me and listening to me confess my love. Just the idea of doing that made my hands sweat and my heart race. 

I hardly told people this because they didn’t get it, and I’d been worried about telling him because even though we were pretty much on the same page when it came to a lot of things I figured there had to be something we’d disagree on, and my fear was that weddings would be it. Lots of couples broke up because one of them didn’t want to get married, so what if he wanted a wedding and I didn’t? Would that be the deal breaker?

It was a winter Saturday, exams had just finished, it was raining. We were squashed awkwardly on my bed, a blanket wrapped around our shoulders, my laptop on our legs. We were having a Friends marathon because I was going home soon and we just wanted to relax together. The episode of Phoebe and Mike’s wedding had just finished and I decided that now was as good a time as any to raise the wedding issue, and I figured that if there was going to be a fight and a breakup it would be better that it happened sooner rather than later. 

When the credits had finished I said, “Phoebe’s wedding is my favourite of Friends weddings.”

He moved a strand of hair out of my face and asked, “Why?”

I shrugged and pressed pause before the next episode began. “It’s the least fancy. The other weddings are so over the top, but Phoebe’s is simple; less about being the perfect wedding and more about her and Mike actually being together, you know?”

“So, do you want a small wedding like that?”

I shrugged. “Not really.”

And that was true: I didn’t want a small wedding because I didn’t want a wedding at all. But I wanted to see if he could figure out what I was hinting at so I didn’t have to outright say it. 

He frowned cutely and pursed his lips, dimples showing clearly. “So you like the small wedding on Friends but want a big wedding for yourself?”

We could’ve gone back and forth like this for ages, me avoiding the question to see if he’d get it and him trying to get a proper answer from me. Sometimes it was the other way around and he gave the half answers while I tried to get an answer. We were good at that game.

But he was clearly confused by my thinking this time so I decided to just tell him. 

“I don’t want a wedding. At all. The idea of a wedding terrifies me.”

His frown deepened and I reached up to smooth the crease between his eyebrows with two fingers. I’m not sure when I started doing that or why, but it made him smile so I kept doing it whenever he frowned. 

He didn’t smile this time. 

“You wouldn’t want to marry me?” He sounded so hurt when he asked that, and he looked like a scolded puppy. My heart felt like it was breaking. 

I shook my head and hurried to explain. “No, that’s not what I meant!”

I reached out to hold his hand, intertwining our fingers. He reluctantly curled his fingers to hold my hand too. 

“What did you mean?”

I kept my eyes on our joined hands when I answered. “You can get married without having a wedding, right? I’m not opposed to marriage, it’s the wedding part I don’t want. It’s expensive and you’re the centre of attention and people have so many expectations and I hate that. I get anxious just thinking about it.” 

“We won’t have a wedding then.”

I was surprised. From what I’d learned of Korean culture I assumed that his parents would expect him to have a proper, traditional wedding (even if he married a foreigner). 

I voiced this concern and he just shrugged. “They’ll get over it.”

We didn’t properly discuss it again after that, but we both knew that one day, if we decided to get married, we’d do it our way and that was all that mattered.


	4. Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not eating is bad and people make things almost kind of better.

“You have to eat.”

“I don’t want to.”

“ _Please _. You’ll get sick.”__

__“I’ll be sick if I eat anything. Really, I’m not hungry.”_ _

__This had been going on all evening. And he was right, I did need to eat, but the idea made me nauseous._ _

__I was done with crying by this stage and had moved on to the phase of staring blankly ahead of me. The TV was on and I was looking in that direction, but I wasn’t _seeing _. Some of my housemates were also in the lounge, but I couldn’t even concentrate on what they were saying.___ _

____But I could feel Jihoon next to me, his leg pressing up against mine and his fingers tangling with mine and how warm he was._ _ _ _

____Other than that I was numb. The shock was setting in. I’d spent most of the morning crying but now I didn’t feel anything._ _ _ _

____With every second it became more impossible instead of more real. And the more time passed, the more I struggled to comprehend what had happened and the more numb and sick I felt._ _ _ _

____Jihoon and my housemates had been bringing me tea and coffee all day, and now they were realising that I hadn’t had any of the biscuits from the box on the coffee table, so that meant I hadn’t eaten since I’d first spoken to my mum the afternoon before._ _ _ _

____After that first phone call I was on edge. After the second phone call I was teary and panicked. Then there wasn’t another phone call for a while and I was terrified. Then I was okay because there was a third phone call and they were okay but then the phones stopped working and I was terrified again._ _ _ _

____I’d spent that afternoon in the lounge, Jihoon on one side of me and a housemate on the other. I’d cried a lot. They’d tried to comfort me. The tears then were because I was scared._ _ _ _

____The sad tears and relieved tears came the next day, after a sleepless night of bad dreams and anxiety, when I got another phone call. My family were safe, the dogs were safe, but the house was gone._ _ _ _

____When I’d calmed down Jihoon said he’d make me more tea, and he did, but I also saw him sneak off to change his shirt that I’d soaked with tears._ _ _ _

____After that I spent all day on the couch. My housemates bought me flowers and chocolate and Oreos. They were nice gestures, and I appreciated their kindness, but no amount of sweets would replace everything I’d lost._ _ _ _

____But now they were nagging me to eat because it had been almost thirty-six hours since that first phone call._ _ _ _

____I knew they were worried, I was worried about myself, but I was sure that anything I ate would just end up in the toilet bowl._ _ _ _

____Jihoon squeezed my hand before letting go and standing up. “I’ll be right back.”_ _ _ _

____I didn’t say anything, just nodded, and let him go. I didn’t think about what he was doing until he appeared in front of me a few minutes later, holding out a plate with one slice of toast on it._ _ _ _

____“I’m going to stand here until you eat this.”_ _ _ _

____We stared each other down, but I soon gave in. I was in no mood to argue._ _ _ _

____He stood over me until I’d taken a bite, chewed and swallowed. Then he smiled softly and sat down next to me again._ _ _ _

____He whispered, “I just want you to be okay.”_ _ _ _

____“That’s a bit impossible right now.”_ _ _ _

____He pulled me closer. “I know. But I’m here and I’m going to make sure you are.”_ _ _ _

____“Thank you.”_ _ _ _

____I stared at the half-eaten toast, not really wanting to eat anymore._ _ _ _

____“I’ll stand up and lean over you again if you don’t finish it.”_ _ _ _

____So I did. And then I almost fell asleep on his shoulder so he pulled me up and half carried me to bed._ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my house and 400+ others in the area burned down in a freak wildfire. My little home town was declared a disaster area. I am 'home' from university but not home because this is a stranger's house that we are renting for a while. 
> 
> My mum barely managed to get out with the dogs in time. All she has left are the clothes she was wearing. There are no photographs, no important documents, no home videos, no books, no artworks. 
> 
> I hoped that maybe writing this chapter would be kinda therapeutic. I suppose it was.


	5. Dog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a visitor and Charlie is not happy.

Charlie was not happy with our temporary addition to the family. 

Understandable, because Kuro was a grown dog, not a puppy that Jihoon and I had adopted with the intention of training to be good with Charlie. Kuro didn’t pester or pick fights with Charlie, but a dog of his size was understandably intimidating to a young cat. 

Kuro had also taken a liking to Charlie’s Spot: the sunny patch of carpet right by the lounge window that got sunlight in the morning and where he could watch the birds from. Charlie, being much smaller than our houseguest, was very easily pushed out of his favourite spot and left to sulk on the patch of carpet that the sunlight didn’t reach. 

Charlie also didn’t seem too happy that we took Kuro for a walk every evening. When we got back, instead of waiting at the door to greet us as he usually did, he sat on the couch and refused to look up when the door opened and only moved if the dog ran over to say hello or if we tried to cuddle him, in which case he meowed in a way that sounded so unimpressed we let him go. 

Kuro was only with us because his owners had both suddenly had to travel for their jobs and they didn’t have anybody else to look after him on such short notice. It was only for a week, and aside from Charlie being unimpressed there were no major problems.

We’d hoped that Charlie would get on with the dog, because we’d been thinking of getting a puppy of our own. But if Charlie couldn’t get used to having another animal around then that plan would have to be forgotten. 

On the last evening that Kuro stayed with us, Charlie stood waiting at the door for us to get home after we went for a walk. 

He meowed loudly when we walked inside and immediately twisted himself around Jihoon’s legs before trotting over to me and head-butting my shin. As soon as Jihoon let the dog off the leash, Kuro had walked over to his (previously Charlie’s) spot on the carpet, walked in a circle and flopped down to rest. 

Charlie meowed loudly again.

Jihoon scolded him. “It’s one more night, can’t you just sit somewhere else?”

Apparently not, but instead of unhappily staring at the dog from across the room, Charlie slowly made his way over to the infamous spot on the carpet. I was expecting him to hiss or scratch or something, finally fed up with the intrusion. I was not expecting him to curl up next to the dog and start licking the larger animal’s leg. 

Jihoon and I stared in shock as Charlie affectionately nuzzled his head against Kuro before curling into a smaller ball and falling asleep purring. 

“Well…”

“I know…”

We watched for a few more minutes, just to make sure that Charlie wouldn’t suddenly attack. 

He didn’t.

I smiled and took a picture to send to Kuro’s owners. “Maybe we can get a puppy after all.”

“I get to pick a name this time, right?”

“I said you could name the next cat. We’re calling our dog Cerberus.”

Jihoon looked so perturbed that I had to laugh. 

“I’m joking! We can both choose a name.”

“Not ‘Cerberus.’”

“Deal.”

He put his arms around me and rested his head on my shoulder. “I still get to name the next cat.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course.”


	6. Bubble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cute phone contact names are embarrassing to explain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter set in the university days.
> 
> I wrote this quickly and I had a cat sleeping on me so I may have made some mistakes, oops.

Stress and sleepless nights meant I was exhausted. 

I knew that if I was going to stay awake for movie night I’d have to have a nap, so I did. 

But when Jihoon arrived I was still asleep, so he phoned one of my housemates to let him inside. He quietly let himself into my bedroom and I only woke up when he sat down next to me on my bed and gently pried my phone from my hand. 

As I opened my eyes my phone lit up with a notification. We both looked at the screen. 

The new notification was an email coming through. 

The notifications under it were messages from him saying he was on his way and then asking to be let in through the security gate. 

He frowned. 

I froze. 

He tilted his head and watched the screen until it faded to black again and asked, “Why is my number saved in your phone as ‘Bubble’?”

I could feel my face going red. I was still half asleep, I couldn’t deal with this now.

I shrugged. “No reason.”

He shook his head. “You don’t do anything for ‘no reason,’ just tell me.”

I rolled over and pulled the blanket over my head so I wouldn’t have to answer.

He started poking me. “Tell meeeeee.”

“It’s embarrassing!”

“Tell me anyway.”

“No.”

He pulled the blanket off me so he could wrap his arms around me and start dragging me off the bed. 

“Jihoon, stop! I’m half asleep, I’ll fall!”

So he left me half lying on the bed, half hanging off it, his arms around my waist the only reason I wasn’t on the floor yet. 

“Tell me why I’m ‘Bubble’ and I’ll help you up.”

We glared at each other for a minute. I knew that he wouldn’t let me get up until I’d explained, and he knew that if he let me up I’d run away and not tell him the reason for his contact name. So I decided I may as well just explain. 

I could feel my face getting even redder as I started talking.

“You know there’s that thing about how you can’t say the word ‘bubbles’ in an angry voice?”

“…No.”

I smiled and rolled my eyes, because of course he didn’t know, it was an English thing.

“Well, you can’t sound angry and say ‘bubbles’ because it’s a cute word, and when you try to it sounds really funny so you don’t stay angry. And I can’t ever be angry when I think about you, so it’s kind of a similar thing.”

He still looked confused. So I kept rambling. 

“You make me feel happier when I’m upset so it’s like the bubble thing, I can’t be angry or sad when I think about you. So you’re… like a bubble.”

I was expecting him to have that disgusted expression he has in reaction to cute things, but he started blushing and avoiding eye contact.

He smiled. “That’s really sweet. Is that why you called me ‘Bub’ that one time?”

I blushed more. “Maybe.”

He looked so happy that I didn’t want to ruin the moment, but I was still hanging off the bed. 

“Jihoon?”

He looked up, his cheeks still dusted red.

“Can I get up now?”

He narrowed his eyes and smiled mischievously. “No.”

He let go of me so I’d slide onto the floor, but I grabbed his arm and dragged him down with me. 

The shocked expression on his face made the bruises completely worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A friend and I started calling Jihoon a bubble and this happened.


	7. Baubles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie decides that the purpose of humans decorating a tree is for him to un-decorate it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote most of this at 1am when I couldn't sleep because my housemates decided to have people over and they were being obnoxiously loud.

Christmas was never a big deal to me, and at home it was more about seeing my family than the holiday itself. So I wasn’t upset about missing Christmas, but I felt bad that it was the one time in the year that my messed up, dysfunctional family was all together and I couldn’t be there to help my mum and my aunt cook and laugh at my gran when she drank too much and took her false teeth out and hear my uncle tease my cousin about his latest girlfriend and hear my other cousin complain about eating vegetables even though she was sixteen. 

I didn’t care about Christmas, but I was definitely homesick and missing my family. 

I didn’t plan on decorating the apartment or getting a tree or anything like that, but Jihoon surprised me by bringing decorations and a little tree home on Christmas Eve. 

“It’s not a real tree and the decorations were the last ones left so they kinda suck, but maybe if you feel more festive you’ll be less homesick?” he explained as he started pulling his purchases out of the shopping bags. 

He dropped the last packet of baubles when I threw my arms around him for a hug. Luckily they were the plastic kind so they didn’t break.

“Thank you,” I whispered. 

“You’re welcome.”

 

The best part about decorating the tree was Charlie’s excited confusion at all the decorations. He was still a kitten, so the shiny things that dangled over his head were very enticing to him. 

The decorations bobbed when we threaded them onto the plastic tree branches and Charlie balanced on his back legs to reach up and gently bat them with his paws so they’d swing around. The motion would make the others move and he’d rush from bauble to bauble to swat them with his paws. He soon noticed the light reflecting off the glittery baubles and onto the floor and went chasing after those instead. 

He got tired, or bored, after a while and hurried over to where we were sitting on the couch. He snuggled between us and purred happily as Jihoon stroked him, but he kept staring at the Christmas tree, flicking his tail every now and then. 

Jihoon was asleep, leaning against my shoulder, when Charlie decided the one still twirling bauble was taunting him and had to be destroyed. He leapt off the couch and sprinted across the room to jump up and grab the little silver globe. 

The weight of him hanging on the decoration caused it to slip off the branch, leaving Charlie sprawled on the floor, wrestling with the bauble that fell victim to his attack. 

I nudged Jihoon until he woke up.

“Tired, I wanna sleep more…” he complained, snuggling closer. 

I elbowed him until he lifted his head, blinking rapidly, to scan the room for our cat. “No, look at Charlie!”

In the time it had taken Jihoon to wake up, Charlie had set his sights on another decoration that had started swinging when he’d pulled the first bauble down. He crouched, pounced, and the second decoration slid off the branch as easily as the first had.

We watched in amazement as Charlie went around the bottom of the Christmas tree, pulling off every decoration that was within his reach and then chasing them across the floor as they rolled away. 

When he’d un-decorated as much as he could, he trotted back over to the couch and hopped up to curl up on my lap, purring and looking very pleased with himself. 

Jihoon and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. 

“You little shit!” Jihoon scolded, but the smile on his face made it obvious that he wasn’t angry at all. 

I scratched behind Charlie’s ears and he yawned. “We didn’t decorate the tree for you to ruin it!” 

We put the tree up every year after that, but we only ever decorated the bottom, because even though we didn’t really care about Christmas but we did care a lot about Charlie. 

And it was hilariously cute when he wrecked the tree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I posted a one-shot recently and I'm working on another one to post soon, as long as university doesn't kill me first.


End file.
